First responders climb Koko Head in full gear to honor 9/11 victims

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Hundreds of first responders, service members and neighbors climbed Koko Head Crater Trail on Friday morning to honor the fallen on the anniversary of Sept. 11.

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25 years ago, nearly 3,000 people were killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks — among them, 343 firefighters.

Staff Sgt. Jose Salcedo, a firefighter at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, said bearing the extra weight of their full gear in the post-Lowell heat and humidity was intentional.

“It’s try to make it as challenging as possible,” Salcedosaid. “To kind of just seem like a portion of what those firefighters went through.”

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Saucedo noted that taking on tough challenges is central to the service’s ethos.

“That’s usually the case with a lot of us who join the Marine Corps,” he said. “We’re more known as a crazy branch, right? A little psychotic, but here we are doing what we do best, and that’s doing hard things—the right thing.”

The trail parking was packed and overflowing as of Friday morning due to the large turnout of hikers participating in the remembrance climb.

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